Distributed fault-tolerant real-time systems: the Mars approach

The authors describe the Maintainable Real-Time System, a fault-tolerant distributed system for process control, developed under the Mars project started in 1980 at the Technische Universitat Berlin. They explore the characteristics of distributed real-time systems and then present the Mars approach to real-time process control, its architectural design and implementation, and one of its applications. The authors focus on the maintainability of the Mars architecture, describe the Mars operating system, and discuss timing analysis. The control of a rolling mill that produces metal plates and bars is examined.<>